Loney and Schmidt

Rather than come to San Francisco for the off day, Ken Gurnick went to Salt Lake City to catch up with the 51s in their home opener and was rewarded by watching James Loney hit the first pitch he saw for a 440-foot homer. Here’s Ken’s report from Utah and as expected, James is handling himself like a professional so everyone can step back off the ledge now!

As for the team, it was a quiet day in San Francisco, as we didn’t land until 3:00 a.m. PT (5 a.m. body time), so most people slept in or just relaxed on the off day. A few of us escaped to see Will Farrell’s movie, Blades of Glory, and now it’s off for some morning Dim Sum in San Francisco.

Kind of funny how Giants fans consider Schmidt a traitor, yet they don’t consider Zito a traitor for leaving the A’s.

And speaking of the A’s, did you guys see Mike Piazza’s home run last night off of K-Rod? Man he roped it! I love the Angels (except when they are playing the Dodgers, of course) but I have ALWAYS been a Mike Piazza fan. He is one of the strongest hitters I have ever seen and will be the perfect DH for the remainder of his career; not to mention a future Hall of Famer.

Adding 2 years and 14 million dollars to what would already be a questionable contract is anything but negative is nothing but negative. The Giants got the same player for 2 years and 29 million less. Actually, that is not really fair, Dave Roberts has been quite a bit better than Juan Pierre the last two years.

Roberts 2006: .293/.360/.393/.752

Pierre 2006: .293/.330/.388/.717

Roberts did that in the worst hitters park in the majors (San Diego) while Pierre was in the bandbox at Wrigley. Sure Pierre is younger, but it isn’t like we can expect him to get a lot better, he is 29. Ned jumped on the grenade for his old team with that signing.

I’m so bored with the Pierre bashing, it…is…so…tired…and…old…already! LET IT GO! He’s gonna be here for 5 years and I really do not want to hear the same old sh*t for the next 5 days, weeks, months, or years. Just let it go and judge him on what he does on the field now and in the future, cause the past is exactly what it is, the past!

You are saying that his 3 games so far are going to indicate how well he will do over the next 807 games in his contract? Genius. I guess that means the 1-2 record indicates we’ll lose over 100 games this year, and the 4 years after that.

Ryan, believe me I understand the concept of Sample size. In part, that is why I linked to 2006 and 2005. However, Alex didn’t want to talk about the past, he wanted to talk about the future. The future is a prison sentence in this case and so far I haven’t seen anything to make me feel different.

As for that fly ball, Pierre also fell down in the first game against Milwaukee and is generally credited with having one of the worst arms in the majors.

If Pierre can have a year like he did in ’04 he’d almost justify the contract. It still has to go down as one of the worst dodger signings in history…that being said.

Pierre knows how to win. He’s a world series champ so whatever he does helps win. He was batting 2nd that year with florida so maybe lighting can strike twice.

Gonzo is worse, he’s a joke. Loney could produce more and while Loney isn’t a true outfielder he has more speed and a better arm then gonzo. Half the people on this blog probably have better arms then Gonzo and Pierre combined.

The problem with Pierre is that the GM saw the things Pierre could do (steal bases, speed, hit for average), and Pierre haters see the things Pierre can’t do (hit for power, strong throwing arm, on base percentage, take walks, rbis, ok i need to stop). The problem I have with Ned, and I have many but this is the main problem, is that I don’t think he has a plan. First he tells us he went after Soriano/Lee/tried to trade for ARod. Then, since he couldn’t land that, and understandably so, he says were going to build around speed and pitching, making Pierre the “speed acquisition.” Thats fine, but the reason the Dodgers team was successful last year is because they were good at OBP and hitting with RISP. Pierre does not add to either of those things, and the rest of the team is pretty much the same. And our best OBP man Drew is gone. So to go from, we need a power hitter!, to we’ll build around speed and creating havoc! seem like two opposite plans. Which one would be more successful in the long run remains to be seen, but I think I have an idea. We needed a power hitter, but to acquire somone (forgetting about the length and price of the contract) who is the exact oppositce of power hitter is confusing. We need power and Pierre’s speed isn’t going to change that. And like others have said, if you build around pitching, you must also have a strong defense, and obviously we all know about the inadequecies (at least so far) of his acquisitions defensively.
If people say they are not concerned about scoring runs because we scored enough runs last year, then we have to add similar pieces to the team like what we lost in Drew. Otherwise the offense WILL be worse.

ok well i think the siging of pierre was a good thing. yes maybe he got to much money but he led the national league with 204 hits last year. furcal had 196..put those two together at the top of any lineup your gonna score runs. so why do we need a power hitter?? if those two can put up those numbers again, which i def. think they can, maybe even better, considering their both only 29. we have garciaparra and a healthy kent hitting behind them, were gonna score a lot of runs. plus pierre has never hit second in a lineup, so he’ll get even more pitches to hit because of garciaparra and kent hitting behind him. its always, we need a power hitter…ok lets go sign one. that didnt work with shawn green(yes he had a couple good years, but for the most part he wasnt what we thought we were gonna get). and with jd drew. he stayed healhty for the most part in 2006 but he didnt put up the numbers like he did in 2004 for atlanta. and thats why we signed him. so to say pierre’s signing was the worse in dodgers history is just plain dumb. so before you guys jump on him for going 2 for 11 to start of the season and say hes being overpaid how bout you wait til septemeber and see where he and the dodgers are at. until then just sit back and relax and enjoy the season

Max, I have to confess my arm isn’t as good as Pierre’s or Gonzo’s. LOL.

jspelk2 – Good post. Well thought out. I am optimistic enough to believe Ned does have a long range plan. It just isn’t as obvious to us now. Last year I thought it was to use the vets on a one or two year contract to bide some time for Ray’s kids. – Loney, Kemp, LaRoche, etc. That also meant protecting the farm system although we traded away quite ab bit last year.Picking up Gonzo and Clark have caused a bit of confusion for me although I guess Matt Kemp is the only youngster ready for the outfield. I think we will have to be patient and believe for a while as things unfold.

My concern for Loney is that he will try to play outside of himself and try to become a power hitter at the expense of all the other categories he excells in. I also think that special glove he has should be at 1B. Watching him on only a couple of times on TV he does remind me of Mark Grace. Good plate coverage and discipline, gap power, great glove. GO DODGERS !!!

Joey – Piere also had the most At Bats in baseball last year. Not the most Plate Appearance, at bats. Why? Because he led off and he basically never takes a walk. He also led the league in outs last year. Do you think a lineup that consisted only of speed guys would score a lot of runs?
The idea that replacing Drew (100 Ribbies) with Pierre (40 in 700 ABs) will lead to lots of runs is silly. Pierre replaces about 10% of Drew’s offense at 80% of the cost.

jbc- he did have the most at bats, but when your getting 200 hits in a season, do you really need to take a walk?? and hes not batting first this year, furcal is and he takes walks and works the count. and this lineup doesnt just consist of speed. it seeems to me that your a big jd fan and thats cool. but dont forget garciaparra and kent. and i expect maritn either and betemit to have great years as well. and hopefully matt kemp will get to play more for gonzo, because although gonzo is a leader and a great person to have in the clubhouse, he doesnt have to skills he once had. and kemp is young and has soo much potential.

You mean to tell me we almost lost Pierre to the Gnats? That would have been terrible.(for the Giants) Unfortunately ,he really wanted to be here, as long as he got paid 3 times what he was worth. Too bad the Gnats also didn’t want Gonzo,maybe they would have gotten him.. To replace Drew with JP and Gonzo is a bad joke on all Dodger fans. If you expect to win you need good outfield defense and someone to drive in runs, that is something this team lacks, and no amount of hoping or waiting will change that.

Drat. I *knew* I should have gone to see Blades of Glory after work yesterday (I live in SF). I would’ve had Brad Penny or someone sitting in front of me! Ah well.

I wonder if people could tone down their comments here so they are more constructive feedback, criticisms or questions rather than using ridiculous hyperbole and general nastiness to get points across. Maybe that’s just me though?

I do hope they start Clark or Kemp over LuGo tonight, though – not to get caught up in that debate again, but just for tonight based on matchups and history.

At any rate, I wish the boys luck – I hope they can take 2 outta 3 from the Gints at least.

Btw, I agree with you Euhlman, I’d rather Loney be at first. He is already so clearly a sweet fielding firstbaseman, I just don’t want to mess with a good thing. I do think we’ll get to the point where Nomar will get less and less playing time because of aches and pains and aging and so Loney could very well supplant him much sooner than when Nomar’s contract expires.

Loney’s time is now, and he’s clearly seeing the ball well right now. We should allow him to use this period to build his confidence at the major league level. I’m afraid he’ll never get a fair shot at the bigs before his sharpness wears off.

51 and 53 – read your posts from yesterday. I just can’t wait, like Frank and you guys, for the real young Dodgers to keep taking up roster spots. I get a bit impatient with that but like you guys, whatever happens will never impact my Dodger loyalty. We went for a walk in town this evening and I kept peering in the storefront windows. Being Good Friday, everything was closed. My wife asked what I was looking at and I replied to her surprise, “The reflection of my new official Dodger hat.” She just shook her head. The thrill of my first Dodger season in1952 has never worn off even here on the east coast and the Dodgers so far away. Keep the faith all you guys. As some point out, it is a long season. My guess is James makes a good contribution to the Dodgers before the season is over. GO DODGERS!!

The Jason Schmidt traitor video is lame. It looked as if the guy had to blast the jersey a few times to get it to ignite. I can understand Giant fans being upset Schmidt signed with the Dodgers but as I understand things the Giants did not make an effort to keep Schmidt. Hopefully their loss will be the Dodger’s gain.

what is so great about jd drew? he only hit 20 HRs last year. he only has two seasons in eight where he has hit more than 25. hes only hit over .300 twice and last year was the first time he had 100 rbi. hes only had more than 140 hits once. maybe pierre is overpaid, but jd drew was even moreso overpaid.

joey_rock@yahoo.com, I’m a huge Dodgers fan, but I’ve always liked the Angels too (sort of like a little brother). Until interleague play, the Dodgers had always been light years ahead of the Angels as far as championships and pennant relevance goes (save for when the Angels almost got to the series in the mid-80’s). The NL and AL were different worlds back then, and one could be a Dodgers fan first and an Angels fan on the side. In other words, it was hard to hate on a team that you never played during the season or postseason.

Of course, when I went to the first interleague series between the Dodgers and Angels at the Stadium, I could tell things were changing. Angels fans were getting pelted left and right by soda and nachos (it was in the LF Pavillion), being told “GO BACK TO DISNEYLAND, YOU STUPID F***” and, my favorite, as the top of the 9th was comming to a close, the whole stadium did the arm-waving thing from the 90’s remake of Angels in the Outfield.

After that game, I knew that there was a hot rivalry in town (especially when I went to the Big A for a LA-ANA game and they were passing out “Beat L.A.” signs, that was good for a laugh). But I still keep up with the Angels scores when I think about it, hope they do better than the A’s and Rangers, and cheered up here in NorCal when the Giants blew it and got whooped by the 80’s Dodgers-led Angels in the Series (and i NEVER let the SF fans forget about that one). When it’s the end of April, June/July, or maybe one day October, I would never think twice about rooting for the Dodgers, and letting my embittered Angels fan family members have it.

punk4god7. You are focusing on all the wrong stats. First, BA and RBI, stats for which luck is a significant variable, are not good indicators of a player’s individual contribution. Second, even though Drew had only 140 hits, his ability to draw walks allows him to post a great OBP (a stat that IS a great indicator of individual contribution). Finally, his 20 HR’s lead the team last year! So despite the fact you may not think much of him, he was quite possibly, our best hitter last year.

Its a shame he left us. Our outfield would be in much better shape had he stayed (i.e. Pierre would be draining the SF’s outfield and pocketbooks instead of ours).

Speaking of the wrong statistics, did anyone read the article in the LA Times from a week ago about how our GM evaluates players? He says he doesn’t even make “half” of his evaluation on statistics. Boy that was depressing to read. What exactly then, (besides the oh so elusive elements of grizzled veteranship and arbitrary good character labels) does he base his evaluations on? Even the stats he was looking at on Pierre he evaluated wrong, as he so point out that Pierre “gets on base an awful lot.” So… Pierre gets on base a lot, but Drew gets on base a heck of a lot more and he’s celebrating his departure. Um, ok.

Anyways, enough with the negativity, I guess. Lets slaughter the Giants.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.